Hey everyone! This is the last post for my “Best Work” category!  It will include two pieces of work like the language arts one.  This time, I am going to be talking about my work from library research. Enjoy!

The first piece of work that I am going to be talking about is my September 11 Remembrance Research.  I had to write about what I researched about it, so I wrote about a lot of different memorials.  Here it is:

Whenever I think about September 11, I feel sad and depressed.  So many people lost their lives. Even though it happened 17 years ago, many people are still affected by it.  There are two of the largest manmade waterfalls where the towers used to be. The names of nearly 3,000 people who died are engraved there.  The waterfalls are meant to be a “powerful reminder of the largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil and the greatest single loss of rescue personnel in American history.  In Bayonne Harbor, New Jersey, artist Zurab Tsereteli found a way to express the pain and grief of 9/11 survivors. A 100-foot tall bronze monument with a 4-ton nickel teardrop was built. From far away, the Twin Towers looked like one building, which is why Tsereteli’s memorial is one larger tower with a tear in the middle to represent the grief.  There is another memorial that isn’t as well known. It is two piers that have 110 boards to represent the 110 floors in the World Trade Center. There is a steel sculpture that reads, “In the night of death, hope sees a star, and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing.” There is another sculpture in Battery Park, New York City. The sculpture is called The Sphere, and it is meant to symbolize world peace through world trade.  It was built for the opening of the World Trade Centers in 1971. It was damaged during the 9/11 attack, but it manage to survive. After 9/11, two items were found inside of it. There was a Bible and an airplane seat. Currently, the sphere isn’t just a sculpture. It is, “an icon of hope and indestructible spirit of this country.” The next structure is on Staten Island in New York City. On 9/11, Staten Island faced a loss of 274 people.  It was one of the hardest hits the community took. The memorial was built for members to come and reflect the lives of loved ones. The structure is made of two thin, white structures. They represent postcards to the loved ones. The last memorial is at Boston-Logan International Airport in Massachusetts. This memorial is made to represent the lives lost on American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 to Los Angeles on 9/11. A Place of Remembrance was created through a public design contest.  This memorial is a glass cube with the victims’ names etched on the walls. The ceiling of the memorial looks like a “fractured sky” because the creator said that no one ever looked at the sky the same way again.

I chose this piece of (amazing) work because I spent almost an ENTIRE period researching, taking notes, and writing this out.  It was tiring hehehhe.  I think it turned out good! (I hope I have no spelling mistakes…)

The F I N A L piece of work that I will be showing is my Here I Am writing.  Here I Am is a picture book, so our teacher gave us an assignment to give the book words! It was really fun and creative! Here is my work:

Today is the day, the day I never wanted to come. This miserable day that may ruin my entire life. I feared that this day would come eventually. Today is the day that I move from my home to New York.The plane is a crowded space. The aisles filled with people of different height and ages. All of those people took a seat when the plane was about to take off. The whole flight was long and dreadful. I felt the need to stretch the entire flight. Eventually, I found myself drifting to sleep for most of the flight. At least I found something to take up time with.  The airport was massive with many people inside. I felt like such a small person amongst the wide variety of people.   We soon entered a yellow vehicle known as a taxi. It took us around the entire city. After about 15 minutes, it dropped us off in front of many random apartments. It took us some time, but we finally found our apartment. When we went inside, I felt this feeling of emptiness, but when I reached inside my pocket, I realized that maybe things would be alright.  I decided to take a little walk outside. There was a little pond near a restaurant. I stood there for a bit deciding what to do. Eventually, I reached into my pocket and took out a tiny seed. It was the only thing I had that reminded me of home. I carefully held the seed in my hands. It started to glow a bright red. Instantaneously, the scent of my home started to emit. It started to feel a bit like home.  Within minutes, I had to head back to the apartment. I layed down on the bed in between my parents. They were already asleep, but I couldn’t get myself to doze off. I stuck my hand in my pocket and took out the little seed again. This time, my whole imagination was released. Leaves and birds emerged from the small seed. Anything was possible with this tiny seed.  I spent most of my days inside the apartment. If I wasn’t in the apartment, I was wandering around the city discovering new things. Everything seemed pretty boring. I started school a few days later, but nothing seemed to be of my interest. Things just seem to be getting duller and duller.  My mom asked if I wanted to go for a walk, but I had to decline. I wasn’t in the mood to do anything. As soon as she left, I saw a mysterious figure outside of my window. I opened the window and looked down. It was a little girl jumproping. While I was looking down, I accidentally dropped my seed. It hit the girl on the head and fell to the floor. She noticed and picked the seed up, but she started to jump away. I called out for her, but I guess she couldn’t hear me. I ran down the stairs in hopes to catch her before she gets away.  We raced through crowded streets and past busy shops. After running for what seemed like forever, I lost sight of her. I thought the world was over, but it was just merely the beginning. After letting go of that seed, I started to become more attached to my new home. I realized that moving may not have been so bad after all.   While walking through the park one day, I spotted the same girl near a tree. I walked over, and she handed me back the seed. I showed her what this seed resembles, and I started to lead her to a dirt patch. We squatted down and buried the seed together. In an instant, the seed grew into a big and healthy tree. To me, the seed resembled a new start to life.  The girl and I soon became good friends. Our little siblings became friends as well.  As I walked onto the bridge, I looked at my reflection and thought, “Here I am.”

I chose this (also amazing) piece of work because it took me SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO LONG to do.  I had to literally read the book 20 times.  It’s seems like an easy picture book but NO! There is so many things to look at and write about. I thought that the end product was good considering that I sometimes stayed up till 10:00 doing it. Yeah…I hope you enjoyed!

Hello! Now, I am going to be talking about my best work for language arts! This will include two pieces of work because I am really proud of these two things!

The first thing is an essay about the book, Outsider.  We had to explain what a character meant in his quote.  It was really fun to look deeper into what the character meant.  Here is the essay:

In chapter 9, Johnny tells Ponyboy to “stay gold.”  It is a reference to the Robert Frost poem that Ponyboy recited to Johnny when they were at the hideout in Windrixville Church.  I think that Johnny also means to “stay innocent.” Johnny applied this to youth and innocence. Nobody can be unaffected by the harshness of life.  Johnny seems to realize how useless fighting is, so he tells Ponyboy to stay innocent. He could have great qualities that set him apart from the rest of his group.  

“Nothing gold can stay,” means that all good thing must come to an end.  The name of the Robert Frost poem is Nothing Gold Can Stay. The poem says, “Nature’s first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold.  Her early leaf’s a flower; but only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf, so Eden sank to grief, so dawn goes down to day, nothing gold can stay.”  You cannot be untouched by the harshness of life. Eventually, everything will lose its innocence, but Johnny wants Ponyboy to keep his innocence for as long as he can.  

Johnny want Ponyboy to keeps his innocence.  He wants his golden traits to set him apart from the rest of the Greasers.  Johnny knows very well that Ponyboy is better than the regular Greaser. To Johnny, fighting is useless.  Compared to Greasers such as Dally, Ponyboy seems like a person who wouldn’t hurt a fly. Ponyboy becoming like Dally is the last thing Johnny would want.  Ponyboy has many qualities that make him unique compared to the average hoodlums.

In the quote, Johnny applied youth to what he meant in his quote.  Nobody can stay innocent for their entire life. Everyone is affected by the roughness of society.  Johnny wants Ponyboy to stay the smart and intelligent boy he is. He should always be able to look at sunsets, movies, and books to find happiness.  

All good things must come to an end.  You can’t avoid what life has coming. Johnny has and always did want the best for Ponyboy.  He saw the good in him when everyone else didn’t.

I chose this because I was REALLY proud.  I spent a lot of time and thinking to make this.

The next piece of work that I am going to show is my Challenger Mission Resume.  It is just a cover letter, but I was really proud of it.  It took me a LONG LONG LONG time to think about what I was going to write.  Here it is:

Dear Ms. Kojima,

My name is Raya, and I am writing to apply for the Remote and Life Support position at the Challenger Mission.  I work well with others, and I am a quick thinker. I can solve problems quickly. I think that I would be a good fit for both of these jobs.

My first choice is Remote.  I have the skills needed to do well for this job.  I have good teamwork skills and I can work really well with people. One of the roles of Remote is to identify and solve emergencies.  I have good critical thinking skills and can work with others to find the best solution to a problem.

My second choice is Life Support.  Again, I have good teamwork skills, so I would be able to work well with my partner.  One of the roles of Life Support is to conduct test and record results. I am meticulous in work and believe I would excel in making sure that tests are accurate. Another one of the roles in Life Support is to work well under stress. During my 6 years of playing golf, I have had my fair share of stressful situations, and I have learned how to excel in those scenarios.

Sincerely,

Raya

Hey everyone! I am here to talk about, in my opinion, my best work that I have done in science.  We had to build a paper rocket that we could launch.  We had an investigative question that we needed to answer after all of our tests were done.  We also had to come up with a hypothesis.  We had to insert a straw into the rocket and blow to launch it.

Investigative Question

What effect does weight have on our strawket?

Hypothesis (If….then…because…)

If we put the paperclip on the tip, then it will go further than the clip at the bottom because the weight is more forward.

Materials (Single Column List)

Paper Rocket

Paperclip

Straw

Tape Measure

Procedures (Numbered Steps)

1. Put the clip in the middle of the head
2. Insert the straw into the bottom of the rocket
3. Put the straw in your mouth
4. Point the rocket up
5. Listen to your teacher say go
6. Shoot the rocket
7. Measure how far it goes
8. Write the data down
9. Repeat

Results (Date Table – Trials – Averages)

(Conclusion)

In my hypothesis, I said that the strawket would go further if the weight is at the tip.  I was wrong because a person that did put their weight at the back went 5.7 meters. There are many factors that could have affected how far the strawket went.  Some examples could be how well the strawket is built, wind, how hard you blow into the straw, and many other things. For the investigative question, weight does affect the strawket.  When I had no weight on the strawket, the average distance was about 3 meters. When we added weight to the tip, the average distance was 4.9 meters.

I chose this piece because I put a lot of effort into it.  I am really satisfied on how it turned out.